"Jesus said unto her, I am the resurrection, and the life: he that believeth in me, though he were dead, yet shall he live:"
John 11:25

Lesson
#22ETERNAL
LIFE IN CHRIST

The doctrine of an eternally burning hell in which lost sinners suffer
endlessly in the awful pain of "hellfire" is still held by millions of
serious-minded Christians. This belief is an outgrowth of the "natural
immortality" idea. That is, if the sinner, as well as the saint, were
immortal, neither would ever really die, but would live on forever in a place of
ghastly torment or of unrivaled bliss.

In the light of our last lesson, you yourself must decide whether this
doctrine is Scriptural. Using sanctified reason, you must decide, too, whether a
just God would permit the wicked to suffer throughout eternity for the sins they
committed in a few brief years. One writer has said:

"If eternal hell is real, love is eternally frustrated and heaven is a
place of mourning and concern for the lost. Such joy and such grief cannot go
together. There can be no split personality for the real lovers of God and
surely not for God Himself. God cannot be faithless to Himself no matter how
faithless we are" (A Reader's Notebook by Gerald Kennedy. Copyright 1953,
Harper & Brothers).

However, the fact that a just God will not punish sinners throughout eternity
in hellfire does not remove the prospect that a just God will punish sinners
with fire and destroy them. "The wages of sin is death," said Paul.
Fire is the best means of destruction. And death is destruction - simply the
cessation of life. This is the reward of the wicked. So the Bible teaches, as we
shall now see.

1: WHAT IS THE BIBLE MEANING OF THE WORD, "HELL"?

There are three meanings. Let us look at them, one at a time:

1.
Hell sometimes means the "grave." The Hebrew word widely
used for "grave" is sheol. In Psalm 16:10, we have it rendered
"hell," referring to the grave. "Thou wilt not leave My soul in
hell; neither wilt Thou suffer Thine Holy One to see corruption." In Acts
2:27, this Scripture is quoted by Peter. In this verse, the Greek word for
"hell" is hades. Its meaning is "grave," the same as sheol
in the Hebrew. As you know, the New Testament was originally written in
Greek. In Acts 2:31, Peter definitely says that Psalm 16: 10, the verse we speak
of, refers to Christ's resurrection. Christ was not left in "hell,"
that is, not in the grave, but was raised from the dead. The word, hades, is
used eleven times in the New Testament. In I Corinthians 15:55, it is translated
"grave." Otherwise it is translated "hell" signifying the
grave or "state in the grave."

2. Hell also signifies a
"place of burning." In the
New Testament the word is Gehenna, or the "Valley of Hinnom,"
described as "a deep, narrow glen, south of Jerusalem, where, after the
introduction of the fire gods of Ahaz, the idolatrous Jews offered their
children to Moloch." In this Valley of Hinnom, the bodies of dead animals
and the refuse of the city were cast. Fires burned continuously, and worms
infested the carcasses of animals. What the fire did not destroy, the worms
consumed. It thus was a type of complete annihilation. Gehenna, the place
of burning, is used twelve times, being translated "hell."

3. Hell sometimes represents darkness and the third meaning of the
word, "hell," is found in 2 Peter 2:4. "God spared not the angels
that sinned, but cast them down to hell, and delivered them into chains of
darkness, to be reserved unto judgment." The Greek word here is Tartarus,
not Gehenna or hades. In this text, hell represents the
darkness that enshrouded Satan and his angels, when they were separated from
God, and heaven and the darkness that has come to earth because of the presence
of the prince of darkness (Isaiah 60:2).

2: WHERE DO ALL MEN GO AT DEATH?

Surprisingly, the Scriptures declare that all men go to hell (or the grave)
when they die. Here are five facts about death:

1. The dead go into the house of death, appointed to all living.

Job 30:23 "For I know that thou wilt bring me to death, and to the
house appointed for all living."

2. This house is the grave
(sheol).

Job 17:13 "If I wait, the grave is mine house: I
have made my bed in the darkness."

Acts 2:27, 31 "Because Thou wilt not leave My soul in hell,
neither wilt Thou suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." "He seeing
this before spake of the resurrection of Christ, that His soul was not left in
hell, neither His flesh did see corruption."

Hades is translated as "hell" ten times in the New Testament.

5. The spirit (breath of life) of all men goes to God at death.

Ecclesiastes 12:7 "Then shall the dust return to the earth as it
was: and the spirit shall return unto God who gave it."

Hell, or the grave, is an impartial place.
"There is one event to the
righteous, and to the wicked" (Ecclesiastes 9:2). "What man is
he that liveth, and shall not see death? shall he deliver his soul from the hand
of the grave [sheol]" (Psalm 89:48)? The rich and poor, the high and
low, the righteous and the wicked-all meet in that abode. Into the grave have
gone the vilest characters that have ever lived, and its portals have opened to
receive the loveliest and sweetest mortals whose gentle footsteps ever graced
the earth.

Yes, death is an "enemy" (1 Corinthians 15:26) and the grave
is not a comforting consolation, but we thank God that "blessed are the
dead which die in the Lord" (Revelation 14:13). They have the hope
of the resurrection. And we may also rejoice that the wicked are now slumbering
in silence rather than screaming in torture and agony.

3: WHEN WILL THE DEAD COME OUT OF THE GRAVE?

The righteous come out of the grave, or hades, at the sound of the
"last trump" (1 Corinthians 15:51-52, 55). This trump sounds at
Christ's second coming (1 Thessalonians 4: 16). And this is at the
beginning of the millennium (Revelation 20:6). Christ's promise of His
glorious return, to gather His chosen ones unto Himself (John 14:1-3),
will someday be fulfilled. At the sound of the "trump of God," the
saints who have slept in silence, unconscious of the passing of time, will
suddenly be awakened. Some have slumbered for thousands of years; others have
had only a brief period in the grave. To all, the time will seem the same; as
just a moment. They will come forth with their faces glowing with joy, health,
and immortality.

The living righteous will be caught up with these resurrected saints, and
they will go to be with Christ and reign with Him a thousand years. What a glad
and glorious reunion this will be.

But when will the wicked dead come out of the grave? They will be raised from
their graves a thousand years later (Revelation 20:5). "But the rest
of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished." This
is the Bible teaching.

Hell (hades, or the grave) gives up its dead (Revelation 20:13). This
occurs at the end of the millennium, when the saints and the New Jerusalem
descend from heaven to earth. The untold millions of the wicked dead are raised
from the grave, or hades. Satan goes out to deceive them. He then leads
them in assault against the city of God, the home of the saints (Revelation
20:5-9). Notice carefully what happens next.

4: WHERE WILL THE WICKED AND HELL (THE GRAVE) BE CAST?

They will be cast into the lake of fire.

Revelation 20:14-15 "And death and hell were cast into
the lake of fire. This is the second death. And whosoever was not found written
in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

Yes, they will be cast into a literal lake of fire. Nine
times does Jesus give warning concerning this "hell" of fire. This is
the "place of burning," the final Gehenna of Scripture. This Gehenna
is mentioned twelve times in the New Testament.

5: WILL THE WHOLE MAN BE CAST INTO THIS FIRE?

The answer is clear: all of him:
"both soul and body in hell" (Gehenna).
Matthew 10:28 "And fear not them which kill the body, but are not able
to kill the soul: but rather fear him which is able to destroy both soul and
body in hell" (Matthew 5:30; 18:8-9).

Since there is no fire in the grave, this consignment to a place of burning
could not take place at death. The burning hell Jesus is speaking of is not one
into which some ghostlike spirit or soul is cast, but one into which men are
cast bodily. Since at death the body goes into the grave, where there is no
burning, this hell that Jesus here speaks of has no connection with ordinary
death. It refers to the second and final death by fire, when the wicked are
destroyed at the close of the millennium.

6: HOW LONG WILL THE WICKED BURN?

1. Until body and soul are destroyed.

Matthew 10:28 "But
rather fear him which
is able to destroy both soul and body in hell."

2. Until neither root nor branch is left.

Malachi 4:1 "For, behold, the day cometh, that shall
burn as an oven; and all the proud, yea. and all that do wickedly. shall be
stubble: and the day that cometh shall burn them up. saith the Lord of hosts,
that it shall leave them neither root nor branch."

3. Until they are devoured--the "second death."

Revelation 20:9, 14 "And
they went up on the breadth
of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city:
and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them. . And death and
hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death."

The wicked will burn forever, as long as life lasts.

Revelation 20:10 "And the devil that deceived them was
cast into the lake of fire and brimstone. where the beast and the false prophet
are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever."

If you will read Exodus 21:6, you will find that "for ever" may
mean only as long as a man lives. Jonah said that he was shut up in the great
fish and "the earth with her bars was about me for ever" (Jonah 2:6).

Yet he was in this strange abode only three short days.

It is perfectly plain that the wicked are going to be completely destroyed.

This will be the second death. At the first death, the wicked went into the
grave. The second death marks the end of the sinner, the end of death, and the
end of the grave. God is forever through with sin, sinners, death, and the
grave. Those who suffer the second death will be destroyed by eternal fire.
Jesus declared, "These shall go away into everlasting punishment" (Matthew
25:46). Notice it does not say "punishing," but
"punishment" and has reference to the result rather than to the
method.

7:
WHAT IS THE MEANING OF "EVERLASTING" FIRE?

Everlasting, or eternal, fire is fire that God uses to
destroy everlastingly the enemies of His truth.

Matthew
25:41 "Then shall He say also unto them
on the left hand. Depart from Me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for
the devil and his angels."

Sodom and Gomorrah are given in the Scriptures as an example
of this fire.

"Even as Sodom and Gomorrha, and the cities about them in like manner,
giving themselves over to fornication, and going after strange flesh, are set
forth for an example, suffering the vengeance of eternal fire" (Jude 7).

Don't forget that these cities were burned to ashes.

2 Peter 2:6 "And turning the cities of Sodom and Gomorrha
into ashes condemned them with an overthrow, making them an ensample unto those
that after should live ungodly."

This is the kind of "everlasting punishment" the
wicked receive.

Matthew 25:46 "And these shall go away into everlasting
punishment: but the righteous into life eternal."

This fire is also called "unquenchable fire."

Mark 9:43-44 "And if thy hand offend thee, cut it off: it is
better for thee to enter into life maimed, than having two hands to go into
hell, into the fire that never shall be quenched: where their worm dieth not,
and the fire is not quenched."

Jerusalem was destroyed by such a fire.

Jeremiah 17:27"But
if ye will not hearken unto Me to
hallow the Sabbath day, and not to bear a burden, even entering in at the gates
of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day; then will I kindle a fire in the gates thereof,
and it shall devour the palaces of Jerusalem. and it shall not be quenched" (Jeremiah 52:12-13).

This fire is called unquenchable. This word simply indicates that no power
will quench the fire until it has consumed everything. just as you have read in
your lesson. Jerusalem is not burning today. Yet God said it would be destroyed
by a fire, "and it shall not be quenched." It was not quenched, but
burned everything up and burned out. So shall the wicked be destroyed.

The "worm" is a symbol of complete and final destruction. In the
Valley of Hinnom, the worms consumed what the fire did not destroy.

8: WHEN AND WHERE WILL THE WICKED BURN IN HELL?

Peter tells us the wicked are reserved to the day of judgment
to be punished.

2 Peter 2:9
"The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of
temptations. and to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be
punished" (Proverbs 11:31).

The earth will become, temporarily, a fiery hell.

2 Peter 3:7
"But the heavens and the earth, which are now, by
the same word are kept in store, reserved unto fire against the day of judgment
and perdition of ungodly men."

Keep in mind that this happens at the end of the millennium,
after the wicked dead are raised.

Revelation
20:5 "But the rest of the dead lived
not again until the thousand years were finished."

Revelation
20:9 "Fire came down from God out of
heaven, and devoured them."

So complete will be the destruction, that the wicked will be
as though they had not been.

Obadiah 16
"For as ye have drunk upon My holy mountain,
so shall all the heathen drink continually, yea, they shall drink, and they
shall swallow down. and they shall be as though they had not been."

Psalm 37:10
"For yet a little while, and the wicked
shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shalt not
be."

Then God will make a glorious new earth.

2 Peter 3:13
"Nevertheless we, according to
His promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth
righteousness."

9: HOW CAN WE ESCAPE DESTRUCTION AND HAVE ETERNAL LIFE?

Let us fully accept Christ and be diligent to be without spot
of sin.

2 Peter 3:14 "Wherefore, beloved, seeing that ye
look for such things, be diligent that ye may be found of Him in peace. Without
spot, and blameless."

God will write our names in His book. And no one whose name
is retained there after the judgment will be destroyed by fire (Revelation 21:8;
22:15).

Revelation
20:15 "And
whosoever was not
found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of fire."

God never intended that any man should ever suffer in hell. It is
"prepared for the devil and his angels" (Matthew 25:41). God
wishes us to have a home with Him forever and ever. Christ died that we might
inherit a home with Him. It is by His mercies that we receive this rich reward.
His second coming will soon open the literal gates of heaven to receive the
redeemed. Is it not all wonderful? Let us praise God for the glorious plan of
salvation!

ETERNAL LIFE
IN CHRIST: SUPPLIMENT

" 'The wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life
through Jesus Christ our Lord' (Romans 6:23). While life is the inheritance of
the righteous, death is the portion of the wicked. Moses declared to Israel: 'I
have set before thee this day life and good, and death and evil' (Deuteronomy
30: 15). The death referred to in these Scriptures is not that pronounced upon
Adam, for all mankind suffer the penalty of his transgression. It is 'the second
death' that is placed in contrast with everlasting life.

"In consequence of Adam's sin, death passed upon the whole human race.
All alike go down into the grave. And through the provisions of the plan of
salvation, all are to be brought forth from their graves. 'There shall be a
resurrection of the dead, both of the just and unjust'; 'for as in Adam all die,
even so in Christ shall all be made alive' (Acts 24:15; 1 Corinthians 15:22).
But a distinction is made between the two classes that are brought forth. 'All
that are in the graves shall hear His voice, and shall come forth; they that
have done good, unto the resurrection of life; and they that have done evil,
unto the resurrection of damnation' (John 5:28, 29). They who have been
'accounted worthy' of the resurrection of life are 'blessed and holy.' 'On such
the second death hath no power' Revelation 20:6). But those who have not,
through repentance and faith, secured pardon, must receive the penalty of
transgression-'the wages of sin.' They suffer punishment varying in duration and
intensity, 'according to their works: but finally ending in the second death.
Since it is impossible for God, consistently with His justice and mercy, to save
the sinner in his sins, He deprives him of the existence which his
transgressions have forfeited and of which he has proved himself unworthy. Says
an inspired writer: 'Yet a little while, and the wicked shall not be: yea, thou shalt diligently consider his place, and it shall not be.' And another declares:
'They shall be as though they had not been' (Psalm 37:10; Obadiah 16). Covered
with infamy, they sink into hopeless, eternal oblivion.

"Thus will be made an end of sin, with all the woe and ruin which have
resulted from it. Says the psalmist: 'Thou hast destroyed the wicked, Thou hast
put out their name forever and ever. 0 thou enemy, destructions are come to a
perpetual end' (Psalm 9:5, 6). John, in the Revelation, looking forward to the
eternal state, hears a universal anthem of praise undisturbed by one note of
discord. Every creature in heaven and earth was heard ascribing glory to God
(Revelation 5: 13). There will then be no lost souls to blaspheme God as they
writhe in never-ending torment; no wretched beings in hell will mingle their
shrieks with the songs of the saved.

"Upon the fundamental error of natural immortality rests the doctrine of
consciousness in death; a doctrine, like eternal torment, opposed to the
teachings of the Scriptures, to the dictates of reason, and to our feelings of
humanity." Great Controversy, 544-545